Sliding-tongue buckle.



V H. KBRNGOOD. SLI DING TONGUE BUCKLE.

APPLICATION IILED OOT. 19, 1910.

Patented 1113,1221, 1911.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERMAN KERNGOOID, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOIR. TO ALMA MANUFAC- TURING COMPANY OF BALTIMORE CITY, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, A CORPORA- TION OF MARYLANP.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1'. ITERM'AN Kennoooi), a citizen of the United States, residing at Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Sliding-'llongue Buckles, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact, de scription.

The object of this invention is to provide a substantially flat buckle, no part of "which projects beyond the top and bottom planes and sides of the buckle, and in which a sliding tongue, instead of a rigid or pivoted tongue or lever, is used for engaging and holding astrap end in adjusted position.

The invention consists of abuckle having sides which form guideways and supports for a sliding tongue, the tongue being further connected with the frame by a slot and boss connection, which, in addition, serves to limit the sliding. movement of the ton us with relation to the frame, all. as hereina ter more fully set forth and finally claimed.

In the accompanyingdrawings, iilustratin; the invention, in the several figures of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is a top plan view, Fig. 2 is a hottom plan view, Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section, and Fig. t is a perspective view, parts detached, illustrating one form of the invention in which the slot is in the sliding tongue and the boss on the crossbar of the frame.

Fig. 5 is a top plan view, Fig. 6 is a bottom plan view, Fig. 7 is a longitudinal. section and Fig. 8 is a perspective view, parts detached, illustrating another form of the invention in which the slot is in the cross-bar of the frame and the boss is on the sliding tongue. In Figs. 3 and 7 the strap ends are shown by dotted lines.

In both forms of the invention illustrated respectively in Figs. 1 to at and Figs. 5 to 8, the frame -and the sliding tongue are of essentially the same construct-ion,excepting in the matter of the location of the slot and boss, as already indicated.

The frame comprises side bars 1, the edges 2 of which are turned down and in to form guideways and supports for the sliding tongue, end bars 3 and 4, a depressed crossbar 5, to receive the looped end of the attaching strap 6, as indicated by dotted lines in Figs. 3 and 7, and a relatively wide crossbar 7 located in the plane of the face of the' buckle frame.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 19, 1910.

SLIDING-TONGUE BUCKLE.

Patented Mar. 21, 1911.

Serial No. 587,956.

As shown in Figs. 4- and 8, the sliding tongue 8 is provided with a cross slot 9, one edge of which is formed with a lip 10, which serves as a finger-hold in operating the slide,

and also serves to put a bight in the strap end 11. As shown in Figs. 1 to 4 the sliding tongue may have a longitudinal slot 12; The sliding tongue is inserted in the ways formed by the turned down si es of the frame so as to be capable of a longitu- '65 dinal. movement in the frame, and in order to prevent the escape of the tongue and to limit its movement, a boss 13 is struck down from the face of the cross-bar 7 so as to project into the slot 12 of the tongue. Or,as shown in Figs. to 8, the cross-bar may be provided with a slot 14 running lengthwise.-

of the frame, and the sliding tongue'may have iornied in it the boss 15, which enters the slot 14 afterthe tongue has been put in place in the frame. I

The frame is made, usually of 'soft steel,

struck up in dies, case-hardened and highly polished, and where, as in the form shown in Figs. 1 to at, the boss is on the frame, this boss is made while the metal is stillsoft and before casehardening and polishing; and so also, in the form shown in- Figs. 5 to 8 the slot 14 is made while the metal is still soft and before casehardening and polishing'. The tongue need not be case-hardened or highly finished and preferably is not, since it is bowed slightly and sprung into the guideways 2 and then flattened out I within the frame; or in other words, the hard-finished and polished frame is not distorted in applying the tongue to it. In this way its slot or boss is brought into engagementwith the "boss or slot, respectively, of the frame. Since the sliding tongue is'almost entirely concealed by the frame, the fact that it is not as highly finished as the frame is of no consequence, either from an est-hetic or utilitarian view-point,

As will be observed, a sliding tongue buckle is provided in which there are no projections extending beyond the face or back of the buckle or beyondits sides, and a very flat and inconspicuous buckle may be -produced. It will be observed that the sliding tongue does not embrace or hug the frame of. the buckle for its support and tiirned dmvn edges of the-side bars.

As sufficiently indicated in Figs. 3 and 7,

and from the foregoing description, the buckle is applied to the strap end 6 by looping said strap around the depressed crossbar 5 so as to avoid any considerable hump in the strap Within the buckle, and this strap G'serves to secure the buckle or'attach it to a garment. The free strap end 11 is passed up from beneath through the slot 9 1n the tongue, and the openingbetween the end bar 3 and the cross-bar 7, and over such (ross bar' and the loop of the strap 6, andthenward the end bar 3 and the strap is clamped between the edge 16 of the slot 9 and the adjacent inner edge of the end bar 3. To,

release the strap, the strain is relieved and the sliding tongue may be moved inwardly on the frame toward its end bar 4, thus permitting the strap end 11 to be re-adjusted or moved. By having the crossbar 5 depressed below the face of the buckle frame, the loop of the strap end 6 is so far below the level of the face of the buckle frame that when't'he free endof the strap ispas'sed'over this loop and then down below the endbar 4, there is practically no obstruction to such passage, and thus a very flat and. inconspicuous result is obtained.

Variations in details of construction and arrangement are Within theprinciplepf the lIlVCIltIOII as particularly pointed'out and distinctly claimed in the claims following. What I claim is 1. A sliding tongue buckle, having a thin, fiat, frame provided with side bars, end bars connecting said side bars, a de ressed cross bar to receive the looped end 0 a strap, the side bars having their edges turned down and in to form guideways and suppoitflgor the sliding tongue, a second cross ar, an a flat sliding tongue arranged ina plane .parallel to said second crossbar and insaid guideways and supports and thereby held against escape from the frame in the direction of the face and back of the frame, the second cross-bar and the sliding tongue having an integral boss and slot connection to connectthe tongue with the frame and to" connected with the frame against escape in the direction of the face and back of the frame, and an integralboss. and slot connection between the tongue and, the said crossbar to Iimit the movement of the tongue in the direction of tli' 'le'ngth o f the frame and to prevent its escape lengthwise of the frame, the parts of the tongue lying -witl1in the dimensions of the frame and the combined frame and tongue presenting a thin, flat, projectionless buckle structure.

In testimony whereof-I have hereunto set my hand this, 17th day of October A. I).

HERMAN KERNGOOD.

Witnesses:

A. H. GREENLAW, NELLIE Dom. 

